A Calgary woman accused of trying to bribe a juror in her husband’s sexual assault trial must now wait for a 12-member panel to render a verdict in her case.

Justice Karen Horner gave her final instructions Wednesday to jurors hearing the case of Erica Levin, who is charged with attempting to obstruct justice in the trial of her husband Aubrey Levin, a former forensic psychiatrist who was later convicted of sexually assaulting male patients.

“It’s said a picture is worth a thousand words. In this case, a video is worth so much more,” Dhillon told the nine-woman, three-man jury in his closing submissions in Court of Queen’s Bench.

Testifying earlier this week in her own defence, Levin, 71, said she went to the LRT platform outside the Calgary Courts Centre with the intention to commit suicide by jumping in front of a train.

Levin testified she shouted there was “a thousand reasons” her husband was not guilty and that an envelope in her hand contained a suicide note — not bribe money.

In earlier testimony, the juror told court Levin approached her with an envelope in an outstretched hand and said, “Here’s a thousand dollars, my husband is not guilty.”

Dhillon said the video footage corroborates the juror’s account, showing Levin approaching the woman and speaking directly to her.

“Is it believable to you for a moment that the accused spoke to the juror by coincidence?” Dhillon said.

The alleged bribery attempt happened the same day the judge rejected a key defence motion in Levin’s husband’s case, said Dhillon.

“It’s no coincidence,” he said.

The juror reported the incident when the trial resumed following an adjournment over the weekend, prompting the judge to remove her from the panel.

At the end of his trial, Aubrey Levin was found guilty of three counts of sexual assault and sentenced to five years in prison.

During her testimony, Erica Levin told court she still believes her husband is innocent.

During his closing submissions, defence lawyer Michael Bates said Levin was candid in her testimony about her belief in her husband’s innocence — and was also forthright about how her distress over his trial drove her to contemplate suicide on the day in question.

“She acknowledged to this day, she still believes her husband didn’t get a fair trial. It doesn’t mean because she thinks that, that therefore she bribed a juror,” Bates said.

The surveillance footage doesn’t provide an account of what Levin said on the LRT platform and it doesn’t provide any proof of what was going through the defendant’s mind, Bates said.

Levin testified the juror misheard her; the juror, during her testimony, told court she wasn’t sure if Levin offered her $1,000 or $10,000.

Believing Levin’s account doesn’t mean the juror was lying, Bates said, only that her recollection of the brief encounter is mistaken.

“Witnesses can be honest, but can be completely wrong,” he said.

Justice Karen Horner will give her final instructions Wednesday afternoon before turning over the case to the jury.

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